School Shootings

Trying to make 2018 my happiest year isn’t just about weight loss or playing video games…it’s about getting the stuff out of my head, which is why I have the “Thoughts” section. Sometimes I just like putting my opinion out into the world about certain topics and that can get me in trouble from time to time.

I’ve tried to start staying away from religion and politics as much and focus on news stories or what is going on in the world but sometimes everything overlaps.

So…here are my thoughts about school shootings.

We just had a big shooting here in Kentucky and I always look at these things differently- maybe because I can put myself in the shoes of a majority of the kids who commit them. I don’t have all the facts about this latest one but I have read several articles and it does seem the kid was autistic, got abused by his father and got bullied at school- I don’t know that to be fact and I don’t know if the kids he shot were the ones that bullied him or he just randomly shot but I do know that a lot of school shootings are due to kids getting bullied and just wanted it to end because no one will help them.

I understand that mentality because I was that kid.

If I had access to a gun when I was in middle school, I’m not sure what I would have done…but thankfully I lived through that nightmare without harming anyone else or myself and I’m proud of that.

When I was in 6thgrade, I had an 8thgrader that would bully me- it was relentless, cruel and drove me to literally wish I were dead just so I wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore.

His name is Allen Martin. I have no issues using his name because it’s not slander- truth is truth.

We rode the same bus, him and his sidekick would terrorize me and the folks at Bate Middle School (Danville, KY) didn’t really care because they “didn’t see it”.

That is the problem; most of the time people don’t see it and the adults in these bullies lives would never admit it- I’m sure if you asked about him, teachers and his parents would say that he was “a great student, a great person, very friendly, willing to help anyone…” and all that blah…blah…blah…but, in reality, he was a piece of shit that got off on making fun of the fat kid.

When a kid gets shot and it’s found out that this kid made another kids life a living hell…do you ever hear “well, he was a little asshole that got pleasure out of tormenting someone smaller and younger than him/her?” Does anyone actually speak the reality of the situation?

I’m not saying shooting up a school is the right thing to do…that is never the answer; however some kids are in situations that they just want to end and I understand that.

I was picked on throughout school- normally harmless fat jokes but the interaction between us went way passed that. It was so bad that I would walk home from school, at 12 years old, just to not have to ride the bus. I’m sure the walking didn’t hurt me, but I was walking about 2 miles home, even in the rain, just to not deal with him.

When my mom would tell me I couldn’t walk home, I would literally fake missing the bus so she would have to come and get me.

I can only imagine how much worse things are these days with social media.

But what’s the answer?

I can tell you that trying to force religion down everyone’s throat isn’t the answer and we know that because there are church shootings as well. Thoughts and prayers do nothing and we’ve proven that over the decades that school shootings continue.

YES. There were school shootings in those “good ‘ol days”…there just wasn’t 24 hour news and social media and blaster it in your face constantly.

The answer is more gun control- getting our country back from the grip of the NRA and to literally throw money at schools. We need to stop cutting budges at schools, pay teachers more and provide more training and just more teachers. There needs to be consequences both at the school and home when dealing with bullies and people need to realize that your precious angel may not be the same way in different situations.

Just remember, when you see these school shootings, the shooters aren’t always the monsters- sometimes they were just willing to do anything they could to get away from the actual monsters and felt like they had no other choice…they just wanted to torment to stop.

I’m not taking the side of school shooters, I’m just adult enough to admit there are more sides to every story and we aren’t doing enough to fix the problem.

I see myself when I look at my son and I try my best to talk to him every single day about his day at school- normally when I pick him up- I try to get him to tell me if someone is bulling him because I know it’s embarrassing and let me tell you, if you ever tells me that there is an issue, Anderson Co Public Schools will know my name and my face. The parents of the kid bulling him will also get to meet me and if the situation isn’t handled at the point, we can make it a daily thing.

I’ll go to every schoolboard meeting, write letters, make calls, sue….stand outside the fucking school with signs if I have to.

I hope that I have taught my son to be kind to others, and based on what I’ve been told, he does just that. I’ve used Commons4Kids to show him that you do what you can to help others and he’s handed out kids with us before and if I ever find out that he is the bully- there will be hell to pay…..if I have to request days off from work and go to his school, follow him around and be his shadow in order to keep another kid from being tormented- I’ll do just that.

So – in closing –

1.More gun control

2.Expanded budgets for schools (not for sports teams or bigger football fields but for anti-bullying programs, more teachers, security officers, etc.)

3.Adults being more adult and facing reality about what our kids face and what our kids are capable of.

Talk to your kids….put your kids in those situations and be sure they understand the right thing to do and why it’s the right thing.

If bullying stops…so does most of the school shootings…I honestly believe that.